169: “Hang on, Biggs!”

c.1983? | age 15? It’s actually getting kind of exciting now, isn’t it? Luke saves Biggs’ life in this one. Or at least, extends it by a few more minutes.

Art Notes

Clearly, I was enjoying drawing these scenes too. I was getting better at it—even with the thick black marker I was using. Perhaps it was an Edding? But there was nothing better than opening a pack of markers and diving on the black one first! It’s a blunt instrument for comic illustration on an A5 format, but let’s be honest, not as bad as the «wedge of a thing the big permanent marker that I used in the earlier versions of the adaptation.

It’s amusing how I could draw one part of a page very well, like Luke saying “Fire”, in panel 2, and then badly dash-off his thumbs-up gesture, in panel 3 without a care in the world.

Below, we have an example in which I took inspiration from the Marvel version, drawn by Howard Chaykin, but inked by someone else. Note that, I didn’t use this on the «previous page to show Biggs looking sad about his pal Porkins’ death, but rather, I used it to show him silently thanking the stars, looking relieved because Luke just saved his life.

Thanks Howard Chaykin & Co.

. . .

Lettering Notes!

Interesting, see how I made Biggs’ voice trail off mid-sentence? Sort of… breaking up.

Keep informed as the clock ticks down

SWa9 will come to and end in the next several weeks. However, I do have ideas for new content, plus two other webcomic projects. What are they you might ask?

Well, for those of you who are latecomers to SWa9, and who mightn’t have followed the Facebook page there’ll be ALIEN age 11 (NOW ACTUALLY LIVE) and an actual original webcomic penned and scrawled by myself which should arrive in early 2012 – or even sooner time permitting.

POSTSCRIPT, 10th March 2017:

The “original webcomic” mentioned above, was ‘IMG’ / ‘Imaginary Machine Gun’. I stopped making it because it was too depressing to work on! Instead, I made a much nicer comic called Between * Wars, which is set in the 1970s and went on to be nominated for Best Irish Webcomic of 2015.

Invite George. Hmmm. Well, just imagine how happy he’d be? It must be a lifetime dream of his to actually meet the kid who originally made Star Wars. I’d love to see that little chap’s heart soar! I wouldn’t threaten to sue or anything. It’s been 3 decades – I mean, you have to let bygones be bygones haven’t you?